Failed So Hard - No Bottle Caps

So I just threw my priming sugar in the bottling bucket with all of my beer, and then found out I had no bottling caps.................... I'm so mad at myself, luckily I have a local home brew supply shop, and they open at 10. Should I add just a touch more priming sugar when I bottle the beer? The beer will be sitting on that priming sugar for about 12 hours.

I would put the lid and airlock on the bucket (assuming it is a bucket) and let it sit a couple of days. Let the sugar ferment out and purge the air.

Then rinse and repeat.

KeystoneHomebrew said:

I would put the lid and airlock on the bucket (assuming it is a bucket) and let it sit a couple of days. Let the sugar ferment out and purge the air.

Then rinse and repeat.

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Thats a good idea, and that was the first thing I did, when I realized I had no caps, I cleaned and sanitized a lid and airlock and threw that on. Luckily the movement of the beer during racking disturbed it enough to degass a bit of the co2, so the airlock is bubbling nicely and soon a layer of co2 will blanket the beer, so I doubt oxidization will happen. So I guess I'll be waiting a bit before bottling, damn me... hahahaha.

Always trust your instincts! Ha ha, part of the hobby. I could share war stories to last a year.

You should be punished for this.

Jarov said:

Thats a good idea, and that was the first thing I did, when I realized I had no caps, I cleaned and sanitized a lid and airlock and threw that on. Luckily the movement of the beer during racking disturbed it enough to degass a bit of the co2, so the airlock is bubbling nicely and soon a layer of co2 will blanket the beer, so I doubt oxidization will happen. So I guess I'll be waiting a bit before bottling, damn me... hahahaha.

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You are correct that CO2 will quickly blanket the beer but the reason the airlock is bubbling is that you added a simple sugar and the yeast are eating it up and expelling CO2, the same CO2 that would have carbonated your beer in the bottles. Let the yeast consume all this sugar and start over with the priming and you'll be good to go.

RM-MN said:

You are correct that CO2 will quickly blanket the beer but the reason the airlock is bubbling is that you added a simple sugar and the yeast are eating it up and expelling CO2, the same CO2 that would have carbonated your beer in the bottles. Let the yeast consume all this sugar and start over with the priming and you'll be good to go.

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No, the fermentation wouldn't be that aggressive and wouldn't trigger that early. All of the co2 from the previous fermentation doesn't escape the beer, like wine, a lot of the co2 is trapped in the liquid, and when it gets disturbed, the co2 begins to escape. When I moved my beer from the closet to the kitchen counter, before racking or adding priming sugar, the airlock began bubbling every 15-20 seconds, just because the beer was disturbed enough for some of the co2 gas to escape.